From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter responding to a paper, querying the practicality of car air-conditioning and full-flow oil filters.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 90\2\ scan0094 | |
| Date | 4th October 1938 | |
| 261g. Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}9/R.{Sir Henry Royce} 4th. October 1938. Geoffrey Smith, Esq., Messrs. Iliffe & Sons Ltd., Dorset House, Stamford, LONDON, S.E.1. Dear Mr.Geoffrey Smith, Many thanks for your letter. I thought your paper was very good. There are one or two points which I would like to query. I note that you consider "air-conditioning in its fullest sense is a development of the future for English cars". I went into the subject rather fully when I was in America, where, of course, they get extremes of temperatures which we do not approach in this country. They have made a very considerable study of air-conditioning as applied to the passenger car. Heating is, of course, simple, but cooling is considerably more difficult, but they have come to the conclusion that it is impractical even though it is so very desirable under summer conditions in a large part of their country. I do not think there are many days in this country where one could justify an air-cooling plant providing the car was already fitted with a reasonable no-draught scheme of ventilation. Another point you mention that filters which filter all the oil are desirable. This sounds like a recommendation of the full flow oil filter. In our experience the full flow oil filter is rapidly becoming extinct. The reason for this is that modern engine speeds demand such a large amount of oil circulation that any filter which could deal with this oil flow, and at the same time be thoroughly effective, would have to be of excessively large proportions and even then would require very frequent cleaning. | ||